CART: Robby Gordon Nazareth Notes, Friday
1 May 1999
Robby Gordon#22 Johns Manville/Panasonic/Menards Toyota-Reynard
Practice Notes/Quotes Friday, April 30, 1999
BOSCH SPARK PLUG GRAND PRIX OF NAZARETH PRESENTED BY TOYOTA
Round 4 of 20 in the CART FedEx Championship Series
At Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pa.
Friday in Nazareth was a forgettable experience for Team Gordon and driver/owner Robby Gordon. Struggling in both sessions, Gordon produced a best time of 20.850 seconds around the 0.946 mile Nazareth Speedway oval, placing him 23rd overall in Friday practice. Practice resumes Saturday at 9 a.m., with qualifying set for 1:15 p.m. EDT. Sunday's race begins at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
ROBBY GORDON "Not a great performance for Team Gordon. We've been trying to find grip all day leaving turn two. I don't know what the deal is, we just havent solved the problem.. The car keeps wanting to step out in Turn Two and that frustrates me. I've been playing it a little conservative, just trying to get a feel for the way the new wings react around here, but I'm not comfortable at any rate it's not to a point where I want to push it yet. Bottom line is, we probably don't have a car for the pole right now, which is okay. We just have to get on it and try to find a good race setup."
MIKE HELD (Co-Owner) "It's just tough, period. We had really high hopes for this weekend after Robby's run last year, but the new wing package has changed things dramatically. To sum up the day; competition is fierce and we're having a hard time. That's not often a good combination for success. But there's always tomorrow. We're looking toward a good race setup, one we can make Robby comfortable with that's probably more the issue right now than anything else. He's not ready to stand on it the way the car is behaving."
KENNY ANDERSON (Race Engineer) "It's frustrating. We can't seem to shake the looseness exiting Turn Two. Until we solve that, we aren't going to see the times in qualifying we would like. We have thrown an awful lot at the car, though. Hopefully, tonight we can really sort through the data and find some answers."
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